10 Tips to Start Your Own Ecommerce Business

Ecommerce, or electronic commerce, is the process of buying and selling products or services over the internet. This can include anything from setting up your own online store to selling your products on a third-party platform like Amazon. If you’re looking to start an e-commerce business, there are some important steps you’ll need to take to ensure success and protect yourself from legal liabilities along the way. We’ve put together this guide on how to start an e-commerce business to help you understand what your options are, so you can make informed decisions about which path to take. Let’s get started!

1) What to sell

Anything online! If you have an item you’re passionate about, it’s probably worth making and selling in large quantities. Chances are that if others share your passion for a certain topic, they’ll want to buy products from you. Etsy is also a good way to test out different items before jumping into full-time business mode. You can either make products on your own or with other artists who like creating similar things as well.

2) Choose your platform

There are a variety of different platforms you can use when building an online store. While there is no best choice, eBay and Amazon are generally considered safe bets, as they have established brand recognition with consumers. Magento and Shopify are also good options for those looking to open their own online store. No matter which platform you choose, be sure that it fits your budget and offers features that align with your goals for your business.

3) Understand your niche

Before you can start an online store, you have to know exactly what kind of business you want to run. Think about what niche or market segment you’d like to serve and make sure that your idea is something that has demand—meaning there are people who will pay for it—and isn’t too specific. Do your research; it helps not only when writing a business plan but also later on when determining how much money (and time) to invest in marketing, etc. Finally, be realistic: You probably don’t want to get into selling widgets for cats unless you actually love selling widgets for cats. That might change in a year or two!

4) Get professional photos

You can’t get a sale if you don’t have any photos. Making a product listing look as appealing as possible is important. This means you need professional photos of your product. A lot of people skip on paying for professional photography, but if you want your store to compete with other online stores, then make sure you invest in some professional photos of your products before getting started! Professional photos will help boost your conversion rate and could even lead to more sales. If you are struggling to find photographers near you, there are tons of freelance sites that offer great deals on photography such as Fiverr or Upwork. (In this case, I recommend Fiverr for its versatility, fair prices, and good reputation.) It may cost a little bit of money at first, but it will definitely be worth it once you start making some money from your e-commerce business. For example, you can easily take an unprofessional photo with your phone camera and upload it to eBay. However, when doing so, there are a chance buyers will leave negative feedback about your unprofessional-looking pictures. Instead of risking it by uploading blurry photos onto eBay, hire a photographer through one of these affordable freelancer websites so that you have high-quality pictures that won’t be frowned upon by buyers. In addition, having a storefront gives consumers peace of mind that they are purchasing directly from you. If they shop on Amazon, they do not know who they are actually buying their products from. But if they buy straight from your own website or Etsy shop, they feel more secure knowing their purchase is coming directly from you rather than another third party.

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5) Create high-quality product pages

When building your e-commerce store, don’t just slap up a couple product pages and expect people to buy. Make sure you’re creating product pages that are informative, attractive, and solve problems for your customers. You should also optimize these pages for both Google and user experience purposes. Having clear product information from your first page can help you increase sales. Having a professional-looking design will keep visitors on your site longer and increase repeat purchases as well! Our guide helps entrepreneurs learn how to create high-quality product pages without any technical skills. If you want more tips to grow your online business, check out our free how-to video series: How To Start An Online Store.

And if you already have an online store, we have tons of other content for growing your business including improving conversion rates with effective copywriting and brand marketing strategies. (Use Rytr or Writesonic)

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6) Know what keywords to target

Research what keywords are highly searched and bring in money. If you aren’t sure where to look, use a free tool like Google AdWords Keyword Planner. Then pick a category or two (women’s clothes, for example) and find out what people are searching for online in that market. Research keywords related to your niche, business name, and industry, then start building up your website around those terms! It’s much easier than starting from scratch. And if you already have an existing site, don’t worry—you can always add more pages with new content. The important thing is having a plan that addresses all of these items so that you stay on track. And remember: No matter what business you go into, search engine optimization is key because it helps people to find your products/services as they search online.

7) SEO is important

SEO stands for search engine optimization. It means optimizing your online store so that Google and other search engines can more easily find it. This is a crucial part of starting an e-commerce business, because if your customers can’t find you online, then they won’t be able to shop from you. There are many factors that determine how highly your store will rank in Google search results—and once you get started, learning how these factors work and mastering them is crucial if you want your site to succeed. Find tips on how to master SEO at Search Engine Watch or Help Scout. Learn about keyword research at Moz. And check out our related post, The Beginner's Guide to Starting an Online Store. If you're lucky enough to secure a commercial lease for your storefront, whether it's in an existing retail space or one that you build yourself as in DIY Retail , one key factor that'll play into whether or not your business succeeds is... location, location, location! In order to make sure your new brick-and-mortar store doesn't go under before it even gets off the ground (or go under just a few months later), follow these nine steps: First off -- Visit similar businesses in your target area, using location queries via Google Maps. Second -- Walk around there during normal shopping hours.

8) Pricing

How much will my product cost? Pricing your product is a crucial part of launching a successful e-business. Before you finalize any prices, be sure to factor in all associated costs, such as materials and production. Then, decide whether you want your prices to be competitive or high-end. While some consumers are willing to pay higher prices for items with designer labels or that are touted as premium quality, others may refuse to purchase from companies that appear overpriced. In addition, remember that many online shoppers who do buy luxury products feel more comfortable paying through an escrow service than they would directly through your website. (Keep reading to learn more about escrow services.) If you have another way of authenticating your business without using escrow services, by all means, go ahead and use it! Finally, don’t forget to consider sales tax and shipping charges when calculating your total revenue per sale. Sales tax varies depending on which state buyers live in—even different areas within one state can have different rates—so make sure to check out what taxes apply where before establishing final pricing plans.

9) Shipping and returns policy

No matter how much you try to do everything right, sometimes things go wrong. Make sure your customers are protected. Write up clear and concise shipping and returns policy that communicates these terms clearly so that customers know what they’re signing up for. If you don’t have enough business yet, consider keeping it simple at first—such as offering free returns on any item shipped from your site within 30 days of purchase—and add more as you grow. Keeping track of and protecting against fraud is another area worth including in your initial shipping policies. Also be sure to develop a plan for reducing fraud: Will you use one-time passwords, dynamic addresses or other methods? What will you do with products returned by fraudulent buyers who never actually receive their package? It’s best to anticipate scenarios like these now.

10) Marketing strategy

No matter what kind of product you’re selling, people will not buy it if they don’t know about it. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes for a moment and think about what would make you consider buying a product like yours? Is it something that would make your life easier or more productive? If so, then a good marketing strategy is crucial to making your online store successful. So how do you go about creating one? Here are some steps to get you started: Identify your target audience – To reach out to those who would most likely be interested in purchasing products from your online store, determine who they are. What are their needs and concerns? What problems can your products solve for them? How old are they? What gender and location are they from? You might also want to identify specific brands as well; see if there are any competitors or companies with whom you share a similar customer base. Figure out which social media channels they frequent. Write a marketing plan – Spend time figuring out what your goals are before trying to meet them by crafting an actionable plan of attack. Determine where and when you want to advertise, which mediums you want to use (e.g., television commercials), and how much money (and other resources) you have available for promotion strategies. Develop a budget that reflects these factors. Implement your marketing plan – It may take several months for all of your hard work to pay off, but having patience while implementing your plans should give you higher long-term rewards than simply jumping into things without a sound game plan. However, if nothing seems to be working after following everything outlined in step 2 above and spending considerable time on it, then maybe it’s time to try something else entirely. Keep at it! Make changes along the way until you find something that works.